Batman AC
by Night Hunter MGS
Summary: Heero Yuy has become the apprentice of the last of the Batmen, and he revels in the chance for a new war. But can he adapt his merciless tactics to something more befitting his new role? And what of the Batman's code, to never take a life?
1. Prologue: The Immortal Bat

**Batman AC **

A Batman Beyond and Gundam Wing crossover by Night Hunter MGS

Foreword: That's it, it's official, I've watched far too much Batman Beyond.  
  
Disclaimer: Look, I don't own 'em! OK?!  
  
Prologue: The Immortal Bat  
  
It began with a single man, a man driven by vengeance. When he was but a child, he caught a glimpse of what evil is as that evil took what he held most dear away from him. He swore upon the graves of his murdered parents that he would avenge their deaths and prevent the tragedy that struck him from ever happening again. The child, angry and needing a focus to pour that anger out upon, left his home and used the vast fortune that his parents left him to travel the world. For well over a decade, he journeyed from country to country, never stopping in one place for long. And as he journeyed he sought teachers: martial artists, detectives, chemists, magicians, scholars, soldiers, escape artists, spies, thieves, ninjas, illusionists, scientists, mechanics, gymnasts, and many more; any one who knew a skill that he needed in his self-appointed mission he sought out and learned all that they knew. After he had obtained all of the skills, talents, and knowledge that he required and passed the hurdle of manhood, he returned to the city that gave him birth, raised him, and took his parents away. It was time for his crusade to begin, and it was in this place that his war would take place.  
  
It is unsure when the man known as Bruce Wayne truly began his one-man war on crime. After he returned home to the Wayne mansion located just outside of Gotham City, a metropolis located within the area formerly known as the United States of America, reports came in several times of somebody halting a crime in progress. It was always someone different, but it may have been Bruce Wayne scouting out his new territory when one considers the fact that he was a master of disguise. The legends suggest that Wayne realized that as things stood, the criminals of the city were too hardened and bold with the lack of any serious police resistance. He would have to make them fear him, but how? How could he strike terror into their hearts and keep himself and those he cared for safe from retaliation? As he pondered this question, it is said that a giant bat crashed through a nearby window and he was reminded of a time when he was a young boy and was frightened by a bat. It was then that he adopted his symbol.  
  
Approximately one month after Bruce Wayne's return to Gotham, the first sketchy reports of a giant bat attacking the criminals of the city began to trickle in. At first the police were skeptical of such a man or creature, but their doubts were silenced when criminal after criminal began being left on the steps of the police station bound and gagged. Others were found at crime scenes and known hideouts, beaten and so terrified that they were begging the officers to arrest them. Some officers were disgusted with such vigilante justice and wanted to bring the mysterious figure known as the "Batman" in to the jail, but many more saw him as doing their jobs for them better than they ever could and silently cheered Batman on. The mayor and police commissioner, both horribly corrupt and on the payrolls of the major crime bosses, did nothing to either discourage or support the Batman's efforts since he was only going after minor operators and small pieces of the crime bosses much larger machines. That attitude changed when Batman began attacking the crime bosses directly and they ordered the mayor and police commissioner to do something. Batman was now officially declared an enemy of the law as arrest warrants were put out on him, and a heroic police captain by the name of Captain James Gordon was assigned to the task of Batman's arrest.  
  
This proved to be no easy task as Gordon laid trap after trap for the masked vigilante but none met with success. Gordon also had to battle it out with the corrupt members of the police department who wanted to see Batman dead at any costs, and with his own sense of right and wrong. Within his mind, Gordon was forced to ask some very hard questions. Should he abide by the letter of the law in a town where those supposed to enforce it were instead the biggest offenders against law and order, or instead support a man who broke the rules so that he could serve the spirit of the law and protect the innocent? Eventually, after seeing some of Batman's exploits firsthand, which included the rescue of Gordon's own child from the hands of the police commissioner's criminal lackeys, Gordon threw his silent support behind him and even became the most trusted friend of the Batman. Eventually the police commissioner was arrested for his crimes, other corrupt officers were found out, the mayor was forced to resign, and the crime bosses either killed each other off, were arrested, or fled from Gotham City in terror. Soon, James Gordon was made the new commissioner of police, and police policy changed from a massive manhunt for Batman to active support of the costumed crime fighter.  
  
Over the years, some found out Batman's secret and became the Dark Knight's allies. The first was an orphaned circus boy, Dick Grayson, whose parents were murdered much like Bruce's were. Feeling sorry for the boy, Bruce adopted him. Living at Wayne mansion, it was only a matter of time before the curious Grayson stumbled upon the massive caverns underneath Wayne manor, which served as the home and headquarters for the Batman. Driven by the same forces that motivated Bruce, Dick joined him in his fight. Soon, Robin, the Boy Wonder, joined the imposing Batman in his nightly crusade. His life as a circus acrobat served Grayson well in this role, and he grew up as Batman's right hand man. Of course, as children always tend to do, Dick Grayson became rebellious and argumentative with his surrogate father. Tired of living within the imposing shadow of Batman, Dick retired as Robin around the time he went to college and struck out on his own as the vigilante known as Nightwing.  
  
After Dick Grayson left Bruce Wayne's side, there was still a need for a Robin. The records of the second and third Robins have been lost, so we are unsure who they were. However, we do know at least their first names thanks to Bruce Wayne's personal journals, which mentions them often. The second Robin was named Jason. Much like his predecessor, Jason was an orphan. Unlike Dick however Jason was a loose cannon and refused to play by Bruce's rules. Bruce suspected but was never able to prove that Jason actually killed a criminal that had murdered Jason's girlfriend. However, this suspicion did not have long to come between Bruce and his second surrogate son as Jason was murdered by the greatest rival that Batman ever had to face, the laughing madman known as the Joker. The third Robin, believed to be Tim Drake, was abnormal compared to the patterns that surrounded the first two Robins. His parents were alive and he had no real reason to commit himself to justice. While we are not sure why, Tim also took up the mantle of Robin and fought for many years beside Batman. After college, Tim also retired the Robin mantle, this time for good. Tim was the last Robin and there has never been another since. Unlike Dick however, Tim retired from his life of crime fighting and became a normal, ordinary citizen.  
  
Counterpart to both Batman and Robin was Batgirl. Like Tim, she had a normal family and a usual life. However, unlike Tim she had clear reason for her decision to fight crime. The mantle of Batgirl was created by Barbara Gordon, the daughter of police commissioner James Gordon. Raised by the model hard-boiled police officer and immersed in the struggle of law enforcement from an early age, it was natural that she would also fight against crime. When her father was wrongfully accused of criminal activity, she became a costumed vigilante to discover evidence that would prove Gordon's innocence. She was later recruited by Batman and formally became a member of the "Bat family". She actually dated Dick Grayson before he left. However, when Dick left she stayed by Bruce Wayne's side as his partner, and according to Bruce's journals as his girlfriend. In this role, she joined the ranks of many women who had managed to capture a small piece of the Dark Knight's heart. Eventually Barbara also left Bruce and pursued a more normal life, marrying the district attorney of Gotham and unsurprisingly filling in her father's role of commissioner after his death.  
  
Despite being abandoned by his "children", Bruce continued his lonely crusade for many more years before his body finally could not support his iron will any longer. When Bruce Wayne finally retired, he was well over sixty years old. Only weeks after his forced retirement from the life of a vigilante, opportunity to continue his war presented itself in the form of Terry McGinnis, a young high school student who had actually gotten on the wrong side of the law in the past. After fighting off members of the Jokers gang alongside Bruce Wayne, Terry helped him into the house after Bruce collapsed from his exertion. While there, McGinnis stumbled upon the Batcave and Bruce drove him out of the house. Returning home, Terry found that his father had been murdered, apparently by Jokers in a failed robbery. However, after inspecting his father's belongings Terry found that his father had been murdered by the powerful corporate executive Derek Powers, chairman of Wayne-Powers Enterprises. Apparently, his father had discovered that Powers was manufacturing a horrific chemical weapon, and with the information that his father had collected Terry went to Bruce Wayne for help due to his fear of police corruption. Unfortunately, Wayne's long struggle had worn him down and he turned Terry away. On his way to speak with Commissioner Barbara Gordon, Terry was ambushed by Powers and lost the data he'd collected. There was only one thing left that he could do now.  
  
McGinnis sneaked back into the Batcave and stole the latest Batsuit; an advanced cybernetic system designed to give a person near superhuman abilities. Using the suit, he infiltrated the Wayne-Powers building and set about stopping Powers' plans. Unfortunately Wayne discovered Terry's plans and activated the Batsuit's safety mechanism, which froze all of the suit's systems. Helpless and at the mercy of Powers' security force, Terry begged Wayne to let him bring the man who murdered his father to justice. Moved by Terry's words, Wayne unfroze the suit and Terry proceeded with his mission. In the resulting fight, Powers was infected by his own weapon and the henchman who had actually killed Terry's father died in an airplane crash. The biological weapon actually reacted with the radiation therapy used to destroy it, turning Powers into a walking nuclear reactor who used the name "Blight" when committing criminal acts with his new superhuman powers. Afterwards, Wayne actually offered Terry the mantle of the bat and McGinnis accepted.  
  
Training with Wayne, McGinnis eventually became a worthy successor to Bruce's mission. His relationship with Barbara Gordon was much like the one Bruce had with her father, and he experienced many of the same things that Bruce had in one way or another. Terry's friend Maxine Gibson soon found out his secret and became a valued ally. After years of training Terry, Bruce Wayne finally died, leaving a great legacy of business and prosperity and the even greater, secret legacy of the Batman. In his own time, Wayne had become a living legend and Terry inherited that legacy. Wayne also left Terry his fortune and the Wayne manor. After many years, Terry had made the mission of the Batman as much his as it was Wayne's. Sadly, McGinnis was killed during one of the many global wars preceding the creation of the space colonies and much of the technology of his day, along with those humans carrying the superhuman gene, was destroyed and lost. Nobody knows what happened to Maxine Gibson after Terry's death. However, what is known is that despite the destruction of Gotham City and the death of Bruce Wayne's successor, there were several more Batmen. Some guarded the cities back on Earth while others journeyed with mankind to the colonies. Sadly, it has been well over fifty years since the last reported sighting of the Batman, and it seems that the eternal struggle against the evils within the hearts of men has finally ceased.  
  
-Christopher Langley, "The Way of the Vigilante"; Chapter five "The Immortal Bat", first published in AC 142, reprinted in AC 174  
  
Editor's comments: Not much concerning the mysterious figure known as the "Batman" has changed in the thirty years since Professor Langley wrote this article, which was later included in his book "The Way of the Vigilante" which has been reprinted as "The History of Vigilantism" with commentary by other authors. There have been no substantiated reports of the Batman, although there have been minor rumors every now and then throughout the years of the emergence of a new Batman. However, since the original is probably more myth than history, there is little doubt that these rumors do not have any truth to them. Still, considering that the legend of the Batman has lasted for more than two centuries, it is not surprising that there are rumors about yet more successors to the so-called "mantle of the bat". Nonetheless, despite the power of the old legends that still cause criminals to shiver in fear, even if there was a Batman at one time and he had successors, there is no Batman in this day and age.  
  
End of Prologue  
  
Afterword: Look folks, even I don't understand what goes on in the twisted maze of my mind. Sufficed to say, send in comments and criticism to NightHunterMGSaol.com. If people like this, I will definitely continue it. If they don't, I might still continue to write it if I'm inspired enough. Please send me reviews, and give me any suggestions you may have. Also, be sure to check out my other fics, particularly the Ranma fic A Ranma by any Other Name, the Dragonball Z fic Neo-Saiyans, and the upcoming GI Joe fic Molding a Soldier. Until next time, go read an actual book or something. Educate yourself!


	2. Chapter 1: A Different Kind of Soldier

Batman AC 

by Night Hunter MGS

Foreword: Somebody stop me!!!  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, Batman Beyond, or your immortal soul.   
  
Chapter 1: A Different Kind of Soldier   
  
My memories of the period known as the Eve Wars are not fond ones by any stretch of the imagination. Every day was terrifying. Even when we weren't in combat, which was a rare occurrence, we had much to fear. We were afraid of discovery, since the United Earth Sphere Alliance's military forces and OZ were constantly on the search for us. The guerilla strikes against their bases had become a painful thorn in their side and they wanted our heads on a silver platter. The others were lucky in an odd way in the fact that they didn't have any family to worry about. If their identities were discovered, then whom would OZ retaliate against? I wasn't quite as fortunate in that regard. Not only did I have a very large family that was well known, but also they could carelessly fling a bomb anywhere in the Middle East and it would hurt me greatly. I may have grown up on the colony, but the Middle East was my home and its people were my family. I was afraid every minute of every day, not that something would happen to me, but that the Alliance forces would start going after them.   
  
And the constant fear wasn't even the worst of it. I was raised in a home where pacifism was revered as the best solution for any conflict. I became estranged from my father after I became involved with the Maganac Corps, and we did not speak again until shortly before his death. It was also at that time that I experienced my darkest moment as I fell to the madness of the Zero System, but that's a tale for later. The point is that despite my convictions and determination to destroy OZ and keep the colonies safe, I did not enjoy combat or killing. I felt a small piece of my very soul being whittled away every time I took a life, but it was a necessary sacrifice. Still, that does not mean that I don't wake up screaming at nights, the ghostly faces of all those who died by my hand and those who I failed to save haunting my mind. However, despite all the horrible memories that I wish I could banish from my mind, there are some good ones.  
  
The first good memory that I have from that time is meeting one of my fellow pilots for the first time. The soldier known as Trowa Barton was a regular mystery to me. I'd seen him in action, and he was a ruthless, emotionless warrior. When he stepped out of his Gundam, hands raised in surrender, there was not a single twitch of his eyebrow, not a single shiver or nervous flinch; he was without emotion, cool, collected, perfect. I could have shoved a bayonet into his stomach, and he still wouldn't have shown any pain, shock, or other emotion. He would have just stood there and died without even batting an eyelash. But deep within that emotionless shell was a contemplative, philosophical soul. Clearly engraved in my mind is the image of Trowa delicately picking up a flute and letting loose a beautiful melody in harmony with my own as I played the violin. As he walked away from the mansion where I was staying, I asked him his name and gave him mine. He just half turned to me and said that he had no name, but that if I had to call him something then I could refer to him by the name of Trowa. Then he was gone.   
  
When I next saw Trowa, it was at one of our darkest hours. OZ had leaked false information about a meeting of their top officials to us, and we jumped right at the opportunity to take out so many top OZ officers in a single attack. But instead of crippling OZ, we killed the UESA peace advocates and mobilized the Alliance army against the colonies. Then OZ stepped in, overthrew the Alliance, and took on the role of friend and heroic savior of the colonies. We'd played right into their hands. I saw Trowa and the others again one more time before we decided to head for space. It was another OZ trap, this time designed to destroy us rather than use us to their advantage. To protect the colonies and us Heero self-destructed. I could not believe what my own eyes were telling me. Here was a young man no older than the rest of us, who had just faced off against the infamous Lightning Count, who had done things that even for the rest of us were impossible. And he just calmly stood there on his cockpit and didn't show the slightest flicker of emotion or regret as he blew himself up. As OZ was still in shock at Heero's sacrifice the rest of us escaped, and Trowa scooped up Heero's motionless body before escaping back to the circus where he worked. It was then that I became more acquainted with the cheerful American Gundam pilot, Duo Maxwell.  
  
Duo and I had both chosen the same escape route, so I offered to allow him access to a hidden base that we had nearby. As we waited for our Gundams to be repaired, we talked for a while and tried to plan our next move. Duo was a truly refreshing personality to be around. He was funny, irreverent, and cheerful. Of course as I discovered, this too was a front much like Trowa's emotionless attitude. Duo simply took it to the other extreme and was over cheerful and talkative in order to mask what he really felt. Duo was as deeply hurt by each death he caused as I was. He really had a very gentle and kind soul, and it seemed too cruel to imagine a world harsh enough to turn him into a killer. Together, we made an attempt to escape into space in order to attract the attention of the other pilots. During the fight I stayed behind to allow Duo and Wufei to escape successfully and detonated my Gundam. Just before it exploded and took most of the enemy base with it I managed to escape in a shuttle into space. I saw Heero and Trowa again, and was snapped out of the insanity caused by the dreaded Zero System after I nearly killed Trowa. Trowa and Duo were the two that I was the closest to. I didn't know Wufei very well since he kept himself separate from the rest of us. There was never an opportunity to become better acquainted with him, although we respected his skill and knowledge as a warrior. And then there's the man known only as Heero Yuy.  
  
Heero has always been a paradox to the rest of us. We respect him but we pity him. We like him but at the same time we fear him. He is totally committed to his mission. For Heero, there is nothing besides the mission. He will kill without hesitation or give up his own life, all for the sake of the mission. And it wouldn't be overly difficult for him to kill one of us if he felt it to be necessary, even though we're closer to Heero than anybody else in the universe. It's ironic that the name of the colonies' greatest pacifist was given to history's most perfect soldier. Heero can do anything that is useful in the modern battlefield; hacking, espionage, sabotage, infiltration, assassination, you name it and he can do it. All of us, Duo, Trowa, Wufei, and myself, respect Heero for his commitment and like him for his skills. But it is that same unswerving commitment and obedience that cause us to fear him. Heero Yuy is capable of absolutely anything and he will do it without regrets or second thoughts. Anything and anyone that is in the way of his mission is classified as an obstacle that must be permanently removed. He truly is the Perfect Soldier. It's really a sad thing though; Heero lives to make himself obsolete. Soldiers fight to obtain peace, but once there's peace what need is there for soldiers? All Heero knows is how to be a soldier, so what will he do when there is no more use for fighters, for warriors? That is why we pity Heero. He is a great man trapped by the role that was chosen for him, and he has no choice but to quietly fade away from existence, unloved and alone.  
  
-Quatre Rababba Winner, "Tales of the Eve Wars", AC 197  
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --   
  
Duo wasn't sure what to do. On the one hand, he knew that it wasn't healthy for any human being, even Heero, to be drinking vodka like that. However, the nickel-plated nine millimeter pistol on the table beside his comrade tended to discourage him from raising any objection, and Duo had the impression that actually taking the bottle away from Heero would be more suicidal than all of his old missions combined. The last threats to the peace had been eliminated. Quatre had taken over his family's business and was heavily involved with colony politics, determined to keep the peace that they had fought so hard for. Trowa was still with the circus and was doing very well there. Wufei was working with the Preventers and teaching at a local dojo in his free time. As for Duo, he and Hilde had started a shipping and salvage company. All of the Gundam pilots had gotten on with their lives. Everybody except Heero, that was.  
  
All potential hostilities had finally ceased over six months ago. In that time, they had lost track of Heero. He had simply disappeared, and they had accepted that fact. After all, that was what Heero did; he moved into a place, stayed there for a while, and then vanished never to be seen again until he popped up someplace else with an entirely new identity. However, Trowa had heard an unsettling rumor two months ago and called Duo about it. Taking the lead that the rumor provided, Duo located Heero after only two weeks. That in itself was great cause for concern. When Heero disappeared, he disappeared so that nobody would have any chance of finding him. Even Duo, one of the best computer hackers throughout the colonies, normally could not find Heero for at least several months. When Duo went to visit Heero, he was shocked at what he found. Heero, normally the pinnacle of self-control, had been drinking heavily on a daily basis since the other Gundam pilots had last seen him. That reunion had been five days ago, and Duo still couldn't get over his shock. Heero was such a great man. For him to be reduced to this seemed horribly wrong. Still, Duo couldn't blame the Perfect Soldier for breaking down; he had lost his only reason for existence. How could he help Heero get back on his feet?  
  
It was then that Duo heard the ringing of his portable phone, and flipping it open saw Wufei on the miniature screen inset on the phone. He had called the other pilots to let them know about Heero's condition, and each had promised to try and help somehow. Adopting his usual cheerful manner, Duo greeted the eternally grumpy Chinese Gundam pilot. "Hey, Wu-man! What's going on? Have the doctors finally managed to remove the stick up your ass?"  
  
"You're not fooling me, Maxwell. You're more worried about Heero than the rest of us combined. Listen up, I figure that a little action might help Yuy. I've been hearing rumors about a gang war breaking out in L1 colony's Alpha sector, Red block, fifth level. If you get yourself or Yuy killed Maxwell, you didn't hear this from me."  
  
With that warning, Wufei hung up and Duo was left staring at a blank screen. Slowly, Duo smiled the first genuine smile that had graced his lips for days. Wufei was right; this just might be what Heero needed. Putting a pot of strong coffee on the stovetop, Duo went to gather up a few weapons and some body armor.  
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --   
  
The figure stayed hidden within the shadows, looking down upon the madness that ran throughout the streets below. Two centuries ago, it would have been the Jokers and the T's going after each other's throats. Today, the new gangs were the Space Cases, a group of anti-Earth punks, and the Ozzies, a bunch of young delinquents who were still pro-OZ even after the betrayal and near destruction of the colonies by OZ. There were other gangs, but these two were the most violent and destructive. And now, the Space Cases and Ozzies had declared street war on one another. The figure crouched low on the rooftop, almost tempted to let them wipe each other out, but if that were allowed to happen then countless innocents would be caught in the crossfire. The figure knew that it would be up to them alone, and as the person leapt down amidst the thick of the fighting, a sudden freak lightning burst from the colony weather generators revealed the symbol of a black bat on the figure's chest.  
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --   
  
After downing several pots of coffee, Heero decided that Wufei and Duo's plan had merit. Also deciding that he didn't want to put up with Hilde's irritating complaints in case Duo got hurt, he hog-tied Duo and threw him into the bedroom closet. In fact, after knocking Duo out, he felt better already. It was almost like old times, knocking out the "guard" before going up against hopeless odds.  
  
Heero was an oddity amongst the other Gundam pilots. They couldn't wait for the war to be over. But in his weaker moments, Heero had prayed that the fighting would never end. War was all that he knew in life, and without it he felt lost and without purpose. Without the war, Heero was slowly losing his mind. There were no more battles, no more causes to fight for, nothing to die for. Nothing to live for. He had fought and nearly died to bring peace to the colonies and to Earth, but now the peace was killing him. Oh well, at least bringing the fear of pain to some moronic punks who were hell bent on stirring up trouble would make him feel better.  
  
Hearing the sounds of fighting around the corner, Heero quietly parked his small car and began sneaking towards the fighting. He hadn't brought along any sort of weapon or body armor. Heero wanted to enjoy this, to beat as many people to a pulp as he could with his bare hands. With his back hugging the wall of a nearby building, Heero peered around the corner just as the colony's weather generators shorted out and a streak of lightning lit up the sky. He was surprised to see a darkly clad figure jump down from a nearby rooftop and knock down several of the fighting gang members. For a moment, time seemed to freeze as everyone looked at the lone figure standing in the middle of their war. Then with an unspoken agreement, the gangsters from both sides let out roars of fury and charged at the one who dared to interfere with their fight. Heero's eyes widened just slightly in surprise as he saw the figure gracefully dodge blow after blow while disabling opponents left and right. This wasn't just a simple fight; this was a dangerous ballet of punches, kicks, and blocks. It was at that moment that another bolt of lightning brightened the streets and Heero saw an unusual symbol upon the figure's chest. Suddenly, his mind flashed back to one of Doctor J's lessons long ago.  
  
-- Flashback --  
  
"Now Heero, I'd like to tell you an old legend that originated on Earth over two centuries ago. Crime used to be so bad back on old Earth that some countries had to use their military forces merely to control their own populations. People were often killed merely for being in the wrong place at the wrong time; it was a horrifying time. And the police were helpless to do anything. So, a single man stepped up and changed everything, breaking the rules to protect the innocent and strike terror in the hearts of criminals. He was named based upon his symbol."  
  
"What symbol was that, sir?"  
  
"The symbol of a bat. The point of this story Heero is that one person can make all the difference if they're willing to go all the way. Now, back to your marksmanship courses. Afterwards, you'll have physics class and mobile suit repair."  
  
"Yes, Doctor J."  
  
-- End Flashback --  
  
Heero had forgotten about that story after dismissing it as fiction and therefore unimportant. But now it seemed that such an opinion had been hasty, since here before him was that very legend, alive and literally kicking. The Batman was real.   
  
It was then that the masked crime fighter collapsed, clutching at his chest. The remaining gangsters didn't hesitate to take advantage of this moment of weakness. Dozens of gangsters piled over the fallen vigilante. Heero watched as many attacked a single man, and made a snap decision. "Mission… accepted."  
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --   
  
Bruce Gibson McGinnis the Third woke up groggily. Slowly as he blinked his eyes open, memories came back to him. He'd been overwhelmed after experiencing a mild stroke, and he was sure that he was finally going to see the end of his long crime fighting career when someone smashed into his attackers, and that was when he blacked out.   
  
"You're awake."  
  
Bruce nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of that voice. That voice was so emotionless, so dead, that it would make even the original Batman shiver. Looking up, he saw a young man about seventeen years old standing on the other side of the plain room, his intense blue eyes seemingly boring into Bruce's very soul. Snapping his fingers, Bruce activated the Batsuit computer's auto command to identify the person he was currently looking at. Behind the mask, Bruce's eyes grew to the size of saucers as he absorbed the information that his computer was quietly whispering into his ear.  
  
"Code name, Heero Yuy. Real name, unknown. Occupation: professional soldier, assassin, demolitions expert, espionage expert, close combat expert, advanced mobile suit pilot, saboteur, bodyguard, intelligence expert, mobile suit mechanic, hacker, computer expert, guerilla warfare expert, infiltration expert…"  
  
"Computer, give me his credentials later, give other information quickly", Bruce muttered underneath his breath.  
  
"Acknowledged. Subject is approximately seventeen standard years old. Date of birth unknown. Parents unknown, believed to be the ward of known assassin Odin Lowe, later assigned to the custody of scientist in charge of original mobile suit program, Doctor J. Trained to be a versatile soldier from an early age. Sent to Earth in AC 195 as part of the altered Operation Meteor. Pilot of special Gundam mobile suit designated Gundam 01 by OZ forces during the Eve Wars and the period immediately after the Eve Wars. Fought in at least three indecisive one on one engagements against Zechs Marquis, OZ's infamous Lightning Count, and defeated him in the Battle of the Libra. Responsible for the destruction of multiple OZ and Alliance bases on Earth, responsible for the destruction of Lunar Prison colony, L2 colony holding facility, Lunar mobile suit production factory, and many others. Infiltrated terrorist group White Fang and destroyed battleship Libra. Later rescued vice-minister Relena Peacecraft from plot by remnants of White Fang manipulated by OZ founders the Romefeller Organization. Also participated in events immediately following said incident. Has worked closely with the Preventers unit off and on. No known political or military involvement at this time."  
  
Bruce felt an overwhelming urge to swear and checked to make sure that his mask was still on since he most definitely did not want this person to know his true identity. He was at the mercy of a young man who was known to be a ruthless soldier. The young man standing in front of him seemed to read Bruce's mind. "You don't have anything to fear from me. I saw one man attacked by many, so I stepped in."  
  
The kid did have a point. The only way that he could possibly be alive right now was if Heero had fended of an entire horde of attackers. Bruce really didn't have any reason to be wary of him. Of course, there was no reason to trust him either, but Bruce would play along for now. "Alright, so you stepped in and I'm grateful. What now?"  
  
If Heero had just a little more capability for emotion in his body, he probably would have smiled. It was refreshing meeting someone as cautious and distrustful as himself. They were both the sort of person who wouldn't give someone the time of day unless they had already earned their trust, and even then they were wary of deceit. "For now, let's just talk for awhile."  
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --   
  
"So basically, you've been falling apart since the end of the war?"  
  
Heero and Batman had been talking for several hours now while Heero worked on Batman's injuries, at least the ones that didn't require him to remove his mask. Heero approved of the Batman's sense of caution; it was nearly as fine-tuned as his own was. Many would call it paranoia, but in their lines of work there was never such a thing as being too cautious. "That is correct. Being a soldier is all that I know. What can I do now?"  
  
Batman couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the young man. At first he had been distrustful of Heero considering the boy's outstanding criminal records from the Eve Wars, but admittedly that was during a time of war. And also, the boy might seem emotionless but if there was ever an expert judge of character and about how people truly felt than it was Batman. He could feel lurking underneath the kid's cold exterior a sensitive soul that had been through an awful ordeal and had horrible things done to him. After speaking with Heero for so long, he could also sense that there was regret for much of what he had done, and along with everything else that impressed him so far about Heero Yuy that simple fact was the greatest. If even after an entire lifetime of killing and training to be the ultimate soldier he could still regret his actions then that suggested a person with a strong moral code and sense of right and wrong. Bruce had to admit he wasn't getting any younger. It had been thirty years since he accepted the mantle of the bat after his father died protecting the people of L1 colony. He hadn't had any kids or met anyone who could succeed him, and it often seemed that the tradition of the Bat would die with him. But now, the legacy just might make it to another generation.  
  
"You know Heero, I wouldn't mind my war ending, but I know that it will never happen. Our war has gone on for nearly three hundred years, and it will continue until there is no longer anyone to become Batman. As it is, I don't imagine that I'll be able to be Batman for longer than a few more years anyway."  
  
Heero thought that it was a little unsettling for a living legend to be speaking like this, but he realized the truth of what Batman said and felt sorry for the man who was trapped by endless conflict. Still, the thought of a never-ending war made him excited. "While you might hate your war, I can not think of any better place for myself than a battle without end, Batman. I fought for a cause, and it gave me a purpose, it gave me a life. And now I don't have it anymore. There is only one proper way for a true soldier to die, and that's from the last bullet of the last battle of the last war. And until that death, the only way for the truest of soldiers to live is in battle, Batman."  
  
"Bruce."  
  
"I beg your pardon?"  
  
Batman hesitated for a moment, then reached up and pulled off his mask, revealing the lined face of a man in his late fifties. "I said, my name is Bruce."  
  
Heero took a second to look at Batman's revealed face, then replied. "You mean Bruce Gibson McGinnis the Third, only child of Bruce the Second and Caroline Devers, and owner of Gibson Enterprises, founded upon the former Wayne Enterprises. Your company is small and not very productive compared to other corporations, but it's still enough on the cutting edge that it is in little danger of going out of business. You specialize in advanced electronics, communications, and computers, but you also manufacture medical supplies and equipment and non-lethal weaponry for police riot squads. Unknown to the public, however are your more candlesteine operations, or "The Black Pearl" as it is referred to in your database. These include espionage equipment, military grade transports, and mobile suits. However, you do not sell these, just develop them, and you don't sell any of your developments or designs either. There is no profit in these enterprises but you spend great deals of money to keep them at the cutting edge and secret, while not even the few people who know about them know where the products go when completed. However this makes sense now. You use them in your vigilante activities, don't you?"  
  
"You certainly do your homework, don't you?"  
  
The former Gundam pilot shrugged. "Back in the war I needed to know who built the mobile suits, and I found out that your company was working on the best in the business. But you did not ask for military funding, so I decided that for some reason this was a private venture and therefore not a threat if it wasn't providing OZ with mobile suits. The question is, why did you let me know who you are?"  
  
"Heero, I told you that I won't be able to be Batman for much longer. In fact, I should probably retire right away, but before I do that I need a successor to my mission. You told me that you needed a cause to fight for, that you almost wished that the war never ended. I'm offering you an eternal war without end; a war to protect the innocent and see the guilty brought to justice. Most people would not wish for such a life, but I have a feeling that you would fit right in. Quite frankly, I'm desperate for a replacement, and so I am offering you the mantle of the Bat. What do you say?"  
  
Heero Yuy could hardly believe his ears. He was being offered another chance for a war? And not the kind of war where he would be forced to kill and to destroy, but one where he would protect and save. The only part of being a soldier that he actually enjoyed was the thought that through his actions he was protecting others. Now he could have that joy without the pain of killing. He did not have to think long about his answer; he could be a soldier again like he was born and meant to be. A soldier in a different type of war. He looked Bruce straight in the eye, and after a short pause said two simple words.  
  
"Mission…. Accepted."   
  
End of Chapter 1  
  
Afterword: Look, I honestly don't know where this idea came from. Probably from watching too much Batman Beyond and going to far too many Gundam Wing chats. All I can say is; somebody stop me! Stop me before accursed inspiration strikes again! Stop the insanity! Ahem… Anyway, send me reviews and read my other fics.


	3. Chapter 2: Take No Life

Foreword: Here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy it… blah, blah, blah… and please send me plenty of comments and criticism.  
  
Disclaimer: Anyone stupid enough to believe that I own Batman or Gundam Wing will be killed so that your stupidity does not infect the gene pool.  
  
Batman AC A Gundam Wing and Batman Beyond crossover by Night Hunter  
  
Chapter 2: Take No Life  
  
Duo woke up in near total darkness. The only light came from a thin slit at the bottom of what must be the door, and he could hardly see anything. He felt something rubbing against his cheek and took in a deep breath, then started gagging as he realized that the object by his cheek must be the old pair of combat boots that Heero never washed after that swamp mission two years ago at the start of the war. Duo was usually one of the most forgiving of the Gundam pilots. After all, he was still Heero's best friend even after being threatened, nearly killed, and having his Gundam parts stolen repeatedly by the Perfect Soldier. But helping his friend through one of the nastiest cases of drunkenness that the party-going Gundam pilot had ever seen only to be knocked out, tied up, and left in a closet was bad enough. Waking up to smell something so awful that Wufei had once suggested using it as a biological weapon was enough to send even Duo over the edge from cheerful joker to murderous psychopath. "Heero! I will kill you!"  
  
"Isn't that Yuy's line Maxwell?"  
  
Before Duo could even figure out what was going on, the door was flung open, revealing Wufei, Quatre, and Hilde. Seeing Duo tied up and lying on the floor with his nose sticking into a pair of Heero's old boots, Hilde and Wufei couldn't help but snicker while Quatre suppressed his own chuckle so that he could untie Duo and help him up. Duo gave both Wufei and Hilde a death glare worthy of Heero while he straightened his rumpled clothes and brushed closet lint out of his hair. "Where's that Heero, I swear that I'll bloody well rip out his small intestine and hang him with it!"  
  
Wufei whistled. "Impressive Maxwell. Such an awesome display of swearing almost makes me respect you. And as for where Yuy is, we were rather hoping that you might be able to tell us. It's been two days since I called you, and when you failed to come home or even call her Hilde became concerned. So here we are, we found you tied up in a closet, and there's no sign of Yuy. So, what happened?"  
  
"I'd just finished sobering Heero up and had explained your idea when he hit me over the head while I was gathering some weapons and body armor for his "fun". Next thing I know, I wake up smelling Heero's combat boots and you guys came in and got me out. I don't know where he is. He didn't get any calls or mail after I told him what you told me Wufei, so I assume he decided to go off on his own for his fun, unless of course he's moved on again."  
  
"Doubtful Maxwell. Nothing has been taken or rearranged. Yuy's not sloppy enough to leave anything here; it might leave a trail."  
  
It was then that there was a crisp rapping at the door, and without another word the former soldiers fell into familiar motions. Quatre went to the window overlooking the street to check for enemy reinforcements, Hilde went to the fire escape to secure a speedy exit point, and Duo went to answer the door with Wufei backing him up. It may have been a time of peace, but some habits, especially those that kept you alive in more hostile times, were hard to break. Slowly, Duo opened the door to see several men in civilian employee uniforms, obviously unarmed. "Yes, may I help you?"  
  
"Is John Whitetail here?"  
  
It took Duo a second to remember that that was the name Heero was using in this identity. John Whitetail was listed as a former Alliance soldier stationed on L1 colony who had managed to escape from OZ's purges of the Earth Sphere military, and was currently so mentally damaged from his battle stress that he had become a terrible alcoholic and nervous shut-in. In reality, John Whitetail did not exist, although his file was based upon an Alliance soldier who'd died during the war. When Duo asked Heero about the name that he'd given himself, the stoic Gundam pilot merely asked him what he'd call a deer with a white underside and no antlers. It had taken Duo several hours to understand his friend's cryptic answer, and when he did he had to admit that it was cleverer than simply calling himself John Doe. It seemed that even Heero had a sense of humor. Duo decided that for now, he'd better keep Heero's cover intact, so he started up his usual cheerful personality.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry, Johnny's not here right now. What do you want with him? Poker game? Basketball tournament?"  
  
"Actually sir, we're from the repossession department. It recently came to our attention that Mr. Whitetail has not paid rent or for any of his possessions, so we're taking it back to his lender. Our trucks are out front, waiting to be loaded."  
  
In the corner of his eye, Duo saw Quatre walk up to the kitchen doorway and nod, signaling that the trucks the man spoke of were in fact there and seemed to be normal moving trucks. Duo couldn't understand it, with his hacking skills Heero never had to want for money. Could he really have gotten so out of it that he'd forgotten something as minor yet vital as paying the bills? Wufei however was suspicious. Even at his worst, Yuy was still far better than this. Heero was the only pilot that Wufei felt was better than himself. He could not accept that the former pilot of the mighty Wing Zero could be that careless. "Tell me, when did it come to your attention that Whitetail had not been up to date with his payments?"  
  
"That's the funny thing sir. As of yesterday our records showed that he was fully paid, but this morning it showed that he was seven months overdue. At first we thought that it had to be a hacking job, but there was no trace or evidence of something like that. No hacker is that good."  
  
Wufei disagreed, he knew one man capable of such a feat, but he could not figure out why he would want his own items to be repossessed. What was Yuy up to? "I see. Well, you might as well go about your business, we'll find John and let him know."  
  
"Thank you. I'll have to ask you to leave so that we can move this stuff out. Have a good day, and let Mr. Whitetail know that if he can pay his bills within two months we'll be happy to replace his belongings."  
  
With that the repo men got to work, and Wufei quietly dragged a silently protesting Duo and Hilde away from the building while Quatre followed. When they were out of earshot from anybody around, Duo and Hilde turned on Wufei and started bawling him out. "What do you think you were doing?! Those guys are taking Heero's things," they shouted in unison.  
  
Wufei sighed. Was it too much to ask that Maxwell and his woman be silent? "Listen to me you two. Somethings off about this. Heero leaves his house yesterday after knocking Duo out, he hasn't come back or been heard from, and now all of a sudden his things are repossessed? We all know that Yuy's far too good for something to have happened to him, and that even at his most depressed he wouldn't let something like a bill slip by. Obviously the repo department computers were hacked into, and I know how impossible it is to access those computers. I once tried when Sally asked me to see if I could get her debtors to lay off about her expensive lingerie collection… er, never mind. Anyway, like I was saying, there's only one man I know who could hack past the security they have on those databases and actually alter them. Heero's up to something. The question is, what?"  
  
It was then that a courier rode up to them and stopped. "Excuse me, do you know where I can find Duo Maxwell? My instructions told me that I could find him around here."  
  
Duo stepped up to the man. "I'm Duo Maxwell, what can I do for you?"  
  
"An express message for you Mr. Maxwell. Arrived early this morning. Please sign here."  
  
Everyone just stared at the envelope the man held for a long moment. It was all far too convenient. Heero vanishes, his things are taken away where no one will be going through them, and now a messenger comes with a letter for Duo. Slowly, Duo signed for the letter and as soon as the courier was out of sight opened it. Browsing the contents, he began to read it aloud to the others.  
  
"Duo, I apologize for blindsiding you like that, but you would only have been in my way. Last night, I found what I've been looking for. I have a chance to be a soldier again. Don't worry, it's nothing that will threaten the peace. But I do have a new sense of purpose now, a new reason to live. I have a new war to fight, and if I want to fight it the best that I can then I need to disappear. I've already arranged for my belongings to be taken care of, and by tomorrow evening there will be no evidence that I ever existed. Don't look for me Duo, you won't find anything. It's doubtful that I'll see any of you again. Take satisfaction in the knowledge that I'm doing what I do best once again, and that you shouldn't worry about me. I thank you and the others for the friendship you gave to me, it meant more than I ever allowed to show. Buried in a vacant lot five blocks from the apartment building is a safety deposit box. Split it between the four of you, it should be more than enough to compensate everyone for all the trouble I've caused over the three years that we've known each other. Farewell."  
  
When Duo finished reading, there were tears in his eyes. His best friend was gone again, probably for the last time. Looking to his friends he saw tears in the eyes of Quatre and Hilde, and even Wufei's infamous stoicism was strained. They all knew that this was it, the moment that they had been dreading for so long. Heero Yuy was no more. Where he went or what he would become they would never know. All they could do was hope that the Perfect Soldier would finally be able to find his own peace.  
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  
  
Across the street from Heero's now vacated apartment, Heero and his new mentor stood on top of the rooftops, looking down at the quartet who were going on their way, saddened by the knowledge that they would never see him again. Bruce had to try at least one more time to reason with Heero, even if it was only for the good of his own soul. "You know Heero, you don't have to give up your old life. All of the other Batmen have had double lives, one as a normal person and the other as Batman. You don't have to give up your friends and everything else important to you like this, kid."  
  
"With all due respect sir, all that is important to me is the mission. A double life would only add complications to the mission at hand, and take time away from my real work. One day I will become the new Batman under your guidance, and that is all that I want to be now."  
  
Bruce both mentally slapped himself on the back and at the same time shook his head sadly. Everyone who had ever worn the mark of the Bat upon his or her chest had given something up in order to assume that mantle. Heero had already had that something taken away from him, and it would probably make him the most dedicated of all the Batmen. But despite what he gained from Heero's lost innocence, Bruce still wished that such terrible things did not have to happen to one so young. Still, there was no way to change the past, so they might as well begin preparing the young soldier for the future. Bruce gestured to Heero who nodded in acknowledgment, and jumping off of the rooftop the two disappeared as if they had never been there to begin with.  
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --   
  
Later that night…

After hours of walking, Bruce and Heero finally arrived at their destination. It was a grimy, squalid warehouse in one of the worst parts of the colony, but Heero could tell that it wasn't any ordinary warehouse. The dirt, the rust, the broken windows and pieces of shattered glass, they didn't look natural, like a normal decayed building. Rather, the damage looked artificial, designed to turn a person's interest away from the place while leaving the structure stable. Heero's suspicions were confirmed as they walked inside and the holographic shield inside the building was disengaged, revealing the steel doors of a heavy industrial grade elevator. Opening the doors with a punched in code and retinal identification, Bruce stepped into the elevator and Heero followed him. They stood silently in the middle of the descending elevator until it stopped at what Heero estimated to be over a hundred feet below the colony's surface, only a level above the colony's outer hull.

The doors hissed open smoothly, and Heero was treated to a sight few men had ever seen, the place known as the Bat cave. The new Bat cave was vastly different from the original. While the first Bat cave had been a natural system of caverns underneath Wayne Manor stocked with high-grade electronics and equipment, the new Bat cave was a metallic box deep within the underbelly of L1 Colony. Easily the size of a large airfield, the underground headquarters seemed to have three different levels, with half a dozen elevators other than the one that Heero had rode down connecting this secret lair to the city above. On the top level, resting upon freight elevators to the surface, were a couple of different jets, a swift attack helicopter, a hang glider, and a heavily armored hovercraft. Also occupying the top level seemed to be living quarters, a cutting-edge super computer facility, and a communications and monitoring center. On the second level were the labs, the armory, several training rooms, a medical station, storage areas, equipment rooms, and what looked like a trophy room. On the final level, half a dozen ground vehicles, including the infamous Bat mobile, were parked in front of various elevators up to the colony's upper levels along the north, west, and eastern sides of the ground floor. There was also a mechanical repair and refueling station nestled in the middle area of the garage, and on the southern wall…

Heero felt his throat clench and his eyes threatening to pop out of their sockets. There were Mobile Suits there! A pitch black, heavily modified Taurus space mobile suit, looking like a gigantic robotic bat, stood in front of an airlock leading out to the void beyond the colony's walls. Next to it, standing underneath a shaft going up to the surface, was a sleek, winged Aries air superiority mobile suit, once again painted in black and heavily modified. Off to the side was a submarine-like Pisces and a crab-like Cancer underwater mobile suits. And there, standing apart from them all, was a sleek, agile, highly articulated mobile suit, customized to look just like a mechanized version of the Bat suit and containing the dull surface gleam that only gundanium alloy had. Bruce Gibson McGinnis, wealthy philanthropist and secret vigilante, had built his very own Gundam, an impressive machine looking like a fusion between Wing Gundam's agile build and graceful lines, and Deathsycthe Hell's demonic appearance. Heero loved it already. He'd been forced to destroy Wing Zero so that it would never be used to start another war, and it had ripped open a void within him. Now he had another mobile suit, another partner and piece of his soul, and the void could be filled again.

Bruce grinned at Heero's excited expression, although any man less knowledgeable of how to read faces and body language would never have had a clue as to what Heero was feeling. The kid was eager; that was good. It would make the job of getting him ready an awful lot easier. Turning to his new charge, Bruce began addressing Heero about what was to come. "Alright Heero, you'll stay here tonight, and you'll live here if this works out. We begin your training tomorrow. Now I know that you're already highly trained, but you'll need to refine the skills you have now and learn new ones if you wish to become the next Batman. I'll see you tomorrow."

Bruce turned towards an elevator to leave, only to be stopped by Heero's voice. "No."

The older man spun around to face the young soldier, afraid that he'd changed his mind, that he'd decided not to continue Bruce's mission. But something shining within Heero's emotionless eyes seemed to calm his fears. In his usual cool voice, Heero clarified his meaning. "Not tomorrow, we start right now. Time is a priceless commodity in a war, and I expect that I have a lot to learn about being Batman. Teach me everything."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"Alright Yuy, the first thing you need to understand about Batman, is that he never kills. He..."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why doesn't Batman kill? It would be more efficient to get the criminals off of the streets and eliminate the problem of repeat offenders."

"That's not the point, Heero. The Batman uses fear as a weapon, an ally. The criminals fear him not because he can kill them, but because he won't; they know that death is the only place where they can escape him and that Batman will always be watching you, waiting to strike from the shadows. By not killing them, you show the criminals that you do not fear them, and that because of that they are powerless against you. That is why for centuries, every criminal around the world has woken up screaming at night, convinced that they're going to open their eyes and see the Batman staring right back at them. More importantly, killing is against the Batman's code."

"Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why is killing against the Batman's code of honor and ethics?"

"Because killing is immoral."

"Why? Self defense seems moral to me."

"That's because the taking of life is justified in order to preserve your own. But a Batman will never need to kill in order to defend himself, because he doesn't need to kill to defeat his enemies, for he is stronger both in body, mind, and spirit than them."

"But the people the Batman protects are helpless against these criminals; allowing the more dangerous ones to live risks the lives of innocents. So why let them live?"

"Because…."

"Because what?"

"Because you can't fight criminals by becoming one of them, a murderer."

"But vigilantism is a crime. So is breaking and entering, search without a warrant, and assault. Why is the line drawn at murder?"

"…… Go back to your studies on methods of fingerprinting."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"Heero! I told you no killing, and that you would only use the weapons I provided you with! Just look at the practice dummy! Now give me that machine gun!"

"Hn."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"Now, today we learn about…"

"Harvey Dent, a.k.a. Two-Face? Former Gotham City District Attorney, scarred and driven insane by a vial of acid thrown into his face?"

"Uhmm, no…"

"Pamela Isley, a.k.a. Poison Ivy? A botanist turned environmental terrorist and criminal, who employed genetically engineered plant life and biological toxins in her crimes?"

"Err, actually…"

"Selina Kyle, a.k.a. Catwoman? Cat lover and master burglar, rumored to have romantic dealings with Bruce Wayne, the original Batman?"

"Uh, well…"

"Garfield Lynne, a.k.a. Firefly, pyromaniac and arsonist? Professor Crane, a.k.a. Scarecrow, former psychologist who utilized fear inducing compounds? Waylon Jones, a.k.a. Killer Croc, mutated human whose reptilian complex drive overrode his mind, turning him into a senseless animal? Jervis Tetch, a.k.a. The Mad Hatter, who used mind control devices to force people to do his dirty work for him, and was obsessed with the book Alice in Wonderland? Edward Nigma, a.k.a. The Riddler, criminal mastermind, insane genius, obsessed with riddles and puzzles? Or perhaps Joker, Batman's greatest nemesis ever, who killed the second Robin and crippled Batgirl? The Ventriloquist, gang leader who had multiple personality disorder and gave his different personalities voice through ventriloquist dummies? Lady Shiva, famed assassin who seemed obsessed with forcing Batman to take a life before challenging him to a one-on-one fight to the death? Or are we going to talk about Bane, South American criminal turned into a muscle-bound colossus due to experiments with the addictive strength-enhancing compound called 'Venom', who masterminded the infamous Arkham Asylum breakout and paralyzed the original Batman by breaking his spine?"

"…. Alright, I think we can forget about the history lesson."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"Aiiieee…That was…. good work Heero. You… disarmed me quickly… making sure that the…. Ooohhhhh… gun barrel never pointed at you, me, or any area where bystanders are likely to be. You were… fast, efficient, and you definitely left an impression that no criminal would forget any time soon. Arrrggghhhh… However… you didn't need to break my arm. Now be a good lad and get me some damn aspirin, preferably in economy size, before I pass out."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"Heero! What have I said about not killing?!"

"I did not terminate the target."

"You gouged the training dummy's eyes out with a Razor-rang!"

"He'll live."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"'Your Teenager, Child Psychology, and You. Chapter One, Understanding Teenagers. Teens are at a transitional stage in their physical and emotional development. Often, they lose focus of their objectives and what they want out of life, and lose much of the respect they have for authority figures, sometimes going out of their way to disobey the people in charge of them'…. Maybe there's something on the next few pages… 'You must always keep in mind that teens are emotionally fragile and are prone to break down into emotional fits'… Uhmm, perhaps if I skim the pages for a little bit… 'Never lecture a teen, or give them something that they see as an order, because they will resent your apparent attempts to control their lives'…. Somehow, I doubt the author had a child trained to be a perfect soldier since the time that he could walk in mind when she wrote this… 'Get to know your teen better by just talking with them. Not lecturing, not interrogating, just idle small talk. Teens as a rule are desperate to talk with people, and as long as you are open and non-judgmental they will open up and tell you everything they're thinking and feeling, talking for hours on end'… Ok, this thing goes through the paper shredder. That sure was a waste of twenty bucks."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"Heero, while I appreciate the fact that you are already trained in advanced martial arts and hand to hand combat, don't you know any non-lethal nerve strikes or pressure points?"

"….."

"Why am I not surprised?"

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"It is a proud tradition of the Batmen to collect trophies signifying past triumphs and cases… no Heero, don't say anything. I already know what you're going to ask, and this is not pointless. Each trophy reminds us of a case, of a brush with death. These trophies remind us that despite our legend that we are still mortal, that we can still die. They keep us humble and cautious, reminding us of the past so that we can use it in the future. Does that answer your question?"

"Actually sir, I was just going to ask if I could practice rappelling down the giant penny."

"Oh….. Uh, sure, go ahead."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"Heero, how many times do I have to say this? I don't care if you're only blowing off the target's kneecaps, no guns, and no killing."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"You've passed chemistry, advanced crime lab, pathology, and forensics with flying colors. Although I am a bit concerned about your habits of making plastic explosives from standard household items and creating a new strain of bacterial weaponry."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"Alright, you took the suspect down nice and cleanly, causing minimal damage to him. It was very inventive, using an extension cord from a television van to hog-tie him in place of a rope or handcuffs. However, you tie them to the lamppost, not hang them from the lamppost. Oy vey…. Thank God that this is VR and not on the job training. No Heero! Stop beating him with a torn off table leg!"

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Bruce sat alone in his penthouse apartment, bought mostly to keep people from suspecting one of the colony's richest men of having an ulterior motive since he didn't seem to live like a millionaire. It had been five months since he chose Heero to become the next Batman. To be honest, Heero was ready to start patrolling after the first week. He didn't need to know forensics, advanced chemistry, or the laws of all four colonies, the Lunar colony, Earth, and all the countries and major cities until years into the job. And quite frankly, he was already much better trained than any of his predecessors before him, having more combat experience and physical training in only seventeen years of life than the original Batman accumulated in over forty years of serving as Gotham City's protector. The training had merely been to shift Heero's focus away from being a soldier, and towards being a crime fighter in a very different kind of war. And it had worked, for the most part.

The fact of the matter was, Heero was ready physically, he had all the necessary skills, and had all the knowledge that he would need for his task. But Heero was not ready to be the symbol that the Batman was, a symbol of justice. Heero still had the killer instinct, and it was so easy for him to go overboard. He just couldn't fully embrace the first rule of the Batman, to protect everyone and never take a life. Until he could take up that doctrine, he would never truly be Batman. But the only way for him to truly grasp it would be for him to experience an event that would show him why the Batman did not kill, and such an experience would come at the suffering of civilians, something Bruce could not allow. After all, that was the reason he hadn't let Heero go on duty yet. Fortunately, there still was a way to drill his final lesson into Heero's mind and soul. He only hoped that the boy would forgive him for it.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Heero awoke with a start, looking wildly about, unsure of where he was for a moment. Then he saw the now familiar contours of his apartment in the Bat cave and relaxed, glancing over at the alarm clock. Hmm, midnight, middle of the colony's night cycle. Suddenly Bruce barged in, almost taking Heero by surprise. Bruce wasted no words, and got straight to the point. "Yuy, police reports are coming in about a gang war breaking out in Gamma sector, Blue block, level thirteen. They have mobile suits, Alliance surplus Leos. I still have my doubts kid, but there's no other choice. Suit up, only you can take care of this. Good luck. And remember, no matter who you were, no matter what you did, you're Batman now, and Batman doesn't kill. Understood?"

The former Gundam pilot barely nodded as he ran out of his bedroom and raced downstairs to the armory. Carefully, almost reverently, Heero lifted the cyber-weave smart suit that he'd been working for months to earn. Slipping it on, he felt the electronic nerve clusters bunch up and then relax, the suit linking with his own nervous system, now a literal extension of his body. Jumping from the balcony and landing on the metal floor forty meters below with ease, he sprinted to the Gundam, nicknamed G-Bat, and climbed into the waiting cockpit, his suit's computers linking with the Gundam itself, causing it to respond to Heero's thoughts and movements. In a way, it was almost like the Zero system in that it allowed for quick reaction times, responding as quickly as the pilot could think. But Heero really wouldn't have cared less if he'd just been given a battered old Leo battle suit instead of this fine piece of machinery. All that really mattered was that he was in the cockpit of a Gundam again, and he was headed off to a fight. He could hardly wait. Sending commands streaming through the neural network, Heero moved the G-Bat onto the transport elevator leading to Gamma sector. Then the elevator started moving, and Heero found himself holding on for dear life and enjoying every minute of the ride as the transport went hurtling through secret shafts towards Gamma's Blue block at ten times the speed of a bullet train.

Heero expected bullets to be flying when the elevator doors opened in the middle of a condemned warehouse. But all he heard was silence, the deadly sort that lets you know that the shit is going to hit the fan and it's going to hit hard. Thankful for the noise baffles that reduced the sounds of the Gundam's movements to only a few decibels, Heero silently crept to the garage door, and peered out into the streets. The reason that there were no bullets was because the war was already over, and it looked like the Space Case gang won this round. There were three Leos with the Space Case's symbols on them, with about a dozen Ozzies lying on the ground, apparently stunned. The Space Cases probably used stun grenades to send all of them off to dreamland, hold them as hostages in hopes that the Ozzies would scrape together some cash in hopes of getting their friends back. Flexing his knuckles within the control gloves, Heero smirked as diamond tipped pitons extended from the back of the G-Bat's hands. Bruce hadn't built any lethal weaponry into the Gundam, the pitons were meant to be used in order to help the G-Bat scale a cliff or building without using it's thrusters and giving away the element of stealth. But Heero knew that sometimes the deadliest weapons were those that weren't meant to be weapons. For a moment, he hesitated, remembering all of Bruce's lessons, before shrugging it off. This was a war, and in a war you needed to kill. Ignoring the part of his mind that was screaming that this was a different kind of war and that he shouldn't kill these wannabe gangsters, he slipped into action.

The one closest to him was standing over a young woman holding her son close to her, huddled in terror as the punk in the mobile suit taunted them over the external loudspeakers. He didn't even know what hit him as Heero rushed up and caved in his cockpit with a single punch, turning the criminal inside to mush. Turning to the two on the ground, he could see them cringing back even further, whimpering like dogs that know that they're about to get beaten. Heero stood stunned for a second, not understanding. He hadn't threatened them, he'd saved them, but they seemed to be more afraid of him than they were of the man threatening them. Why? Heero cringed as an unpleasant possibility came to him. They'd seen him kill the guy. Was that it? Were they afraid because they were at the mercy of a man they knew to be a killer? Shaking it off, Heero turned to his next target.

The second Leo was just starting to turn around, alerted by the sound of rending metal, when Heero ripped it's cockpit in two. He barely glanced into the cockpit, but was riveted when he saw the dead face of it's pilot. It was a young boy, no older than fourteen, even younger than he was when he went down to Earth to fight. He didn't have any marks, tattoos, or jewelry that identified him as a member of the gang, so this must have been his initiation. Taped onto the cockpit's side were two pictures. One showed the deceased young man surrounded by several much younger children with a clear family resemblance, the lack of any adults or parental figures in the picture obvious. The other picture was that of a young, plain looking girl in cheap clothes who was about the Leo pilot's age. From those two pictures, Heero's mind was easily able to piece together a likely story surrounding the dead boy. He and his siblings were orphaned during the war so he had to take care of them, and on top of that he had a girlfriend or sweetheart to care for as well. It was a well known fact that the Space Cases encouraged people to join their gang by offering the families and loved ones of their members protection and support, so he probably joined the gang recently to earn a living for the people who depended on him. And for that, Heero had killed him, leaving those people with no visible means of support. Again, Heero shook his head clear of such thoughts, although they still lingered in his mind. The mission, he had to focus on the mission.

The last Leo noticed him just as Heero was starting to point the G-Bat's palm at the other mobile suit. The Leo began waving it's hands in surrender and the pilot was screaming at Heero over the loudspeakers to stop, but it was already too late. The grappling spike erupted from the bat-like Gundam's hand with enough force to bury it deeply into the concrete and metal structures of skyscrapers, a thick metal cable trailing behind it's path. The spike punched straight through the Leo like it was tissue paper and sent it flying, landing just short of a crowded apartment building. That's when the punctured fuel tank for the early model mobile suit met a handful of sparks coming from a wire sliced apart by the grapples path, and both the Leo and the building it rested next to was consumed by a mighty fireball. Heero stared in horror as he watched innocent civilians, women and children as well as men, running through the streets and leaping out of the buildings windows, covered in flames. It was then that the police finally showed up to see Heero's mobile suit surrounded by a scene of brutal carnage. The police band radio that was in the G-Bat crackled to life, and the Gundam pilot heard the police officers screaming over it. "GOD ALMIGHTY! We need all available rescue and fire units down here immediately! Officer Gregson's dead! Somebody busted in on his undercover operation and killed him, along with the Space Cases and a lot of other folks! All units, all units, open fire! Bring that god damned murderer down!"

Heero couldn't shake these thoughts, these horrible, awful thoughts from his mind as easily as he had with the others. One of the Space Cases was an undercover police officer, someone who would have been an ally in this new war against crime that he was fighting, possibly even someone who could have become his friend. Another one of them was a young man, just a boy really, whose only crime seemed to be trying to provide for the people important to him. And in that apartment building, there had been at least three hundred innocent people that had been safe from the violence outside as long as they stayed indoors. Now all of them were dead, and he'd killed them. He'd acted as if this was one of the battlefields back during the war, but it wasn't. It was a place where people lived and worked, where any true battle would risk innocent lives. During the war he had deemed such losses of civilian life as being unavoidable, but as Bruce kept telling him this was a different sort of war. Heero hadn't listened to him, and it had cost these people their lives.

Bruce had told him that in war everything was often white and black; kill or be killed, the enemy are the people against you. But in the Batman's war on crime, everything, good and evil right and wrong, was colored in shades of gray. He'd thought it nonsense, and now he was horrified to see that Bruce had been right. He'd been right about everything, even the rule against killing. In this sort of war, he could just as easily kill somebody who was innocent as he could kill somebody who was guilty. He could be forgiven his other crimes in the interest of the common good, but killing was inexcusable as evidenced by the dozens of police officers firing wildly at his suit, screaming in rage and hatred over what he had done. Heero had committed hundreds terrible deeds in his lifetime, but they had all been excused as necessities of war. But this wasn't war, there were no excuses, what he had done here was murder, pure and simple. For the first time that he could remember, Heero felt hot, salty tears running down his face, and he arched his head toward the heavens as he screamed in anguish. "NOOOOOO!!!! PLEASE GOD, NOOO!!!!!!"

The Perfect Soldier, the emotionless killer, was no more, and all that was left was Heero, the boy who deep down just wanted to help people and still cried inside whenever he caused a death. Suddenly, Heero was pulled out of his new personal hell by a familiar voice. "Alright, I think you finally understand Yuy. End simulation."

Like a blossom, the Gundam's cockpit opened, revealing Bruce standing in front of the suit. Looking wildly around, Heero saw that he was still in the Bat cave, confusion warring with panic and hope until he saw a cable running from the virtual reality training simulators to the G-Bat's control systems. The pieces of the puzzle fell together and Heero understood, it had been a training session, Bruce's way of forcing Heero to learn and understand the final lesson about being Batman. Batman wasn't a soldier, wasn't a warrior, and wasn't a killer, he was a protector. He was a protector of the innocent, and someone accused of a crime or who seemed to be a criminal could very well be one of those innocents that he was sworn to protect. Looking sternly at him, Bruce spoke with a solemnity unparalleled by any that Heero had seen before. "Tell me Heero, what is the greatest and most important rule of the Batman?"

Tear tracks still staining his cheeks, the boy looked up at his mentor, his respect and admiration for the older man reaching new heights. Allowing himself a single, unbelievably minuscule smile, Heero answered the familiar question for the first time with belief and conviction in his voice. "We are protectors, not killers. Our duty is to protect the innocent, not punish those we think are guilty."

His reward was a smile and a comforting hand on his shoulder as Bruce nodded. "Very good answer... Batman."

End Chapter 2

Author Notes: Woot! After a long hiatus, I've finished this chapter! Next time around, Heero's going to go on patrol for the first time, and certain people are going to learn that the oldest urban legend of all time is much more real than they thought! Please, send me suggestions for enemies, gadgets you'd like to see, the new Batman's potential allies, and so on. Give me your suggestions, I live off of them! I also like comments and reviews, they make me write faster. Well, until next time, ja ne!


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